Dead Man's Fury (Dead Man's War Book 3)

by Dan Decker

  Time to find out, I thought, slamming my toes down and almost flying off the lurker. My feet went up, but my hands retained their hold on the lurker’s wings.

  It was gratifying to hear a tearing noise and another roar from the lurker. Using the wings to pull my body down, I repositioned so my legs were once again on either the side of the lurker. Just as I was about to press my toes down again, the lurker dove, flipped to one side and tried to scrape me off with a passing rock.

  At the last moment, I brought up a foot and pushed us back just before I would’ve smacked into the rock.

  No more of that, sucker.

  I pushed my toes down and lurched upward again. This time I had the satisfying experience of pulling off the wings.

  The lurker’s scream echoed through the rock canyon. In my exuberance for having accomplished my desire, I ran smack into a cliff and bounced off, spinning away with my feet flying over my head.

  I would have expected such a maneuver to send me flying out of control, but it appeared the suit was smart enough to keep that from happening. I was not hurt. A quick glance at my suit told me that it seemed to be okay.

  The lurkers had overshot me when I had gone up. The one whose wings I had taken charged with a furious roar, the full effect of which was muted by my suit. I pushed off the cliff and headed straight towards the lurker, wielding its wings like they were oversized spears to agitate the creature. I wished that I could activate my propulsion system. I wanted to see what would happen when I rammed one at full speed. I was confident that my suit would handle the impact without a problem, considering how I had bounced off a cliff and didn’t even feel bruised.

  Right before we collided, I lurched up a hundred feet, came back down, intending to land on the creature like I had before, but it snaked out of the way at the last moment, turning on me and firing with its blasters. One of the shots went right into my chest but was absorbed, my suit briefly lighting up as it did.

  Roth had not explained the suit’s defense mechanisms, but she had mentioned it had a shield. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it was a force field that protected me, similar to the transport ship.

  By that time, the other lurker was attacking as well. I spread my feet so I fell down into the cliffs, the side of one mere inches from my face. The wounded lurker tried to follow and rammed headfirst into the rock. The other turned away just in time and disappeared behind a rock face.

  Smiling, I shot up and landed on the wounded lurker before it knew what I was doing. I grabbed another set of wings and pushed up. I expected that it wasn’t going to work yet, so I immediately came back down, pushing up again the second time and tearing off two more wings.

  The loss of the first set of wings had not done much to its ability to maneuver, but this time it did. It had one remaining set of wings, and while it could still fly, it lurched in the air as if it had difficulty maintaining its balance.

  I lunged onto the top of the creature, landing just behind its head. I brought both my fists into the side of its head, pounding it with all the force I could muster, trusting that the suit would amplify it. It roared but was helpless to do anything about my attack. Its blasters were now firing in all different directions, but nothing came close to hitting me. I bashed it in the head again, jumped off, and landed right behind its other wings. I grabbed hold, but before I could push down with my feet, it twisted and sent me right into the face of the cliff, jarring my head.

  I pushed off the cliff with my arm and was surprised at how much strength I had, it sent us twenty feet out. I pushed down with my feet, but the wings did not come. I did it again a second and third time but they still did not go. The lurker writhed and turned every which way, it felt like I was riding a snake. Its maneuvers made it difficult to repeat what I had done before. Finally, I grabbed hold of just one of the wings and pushed down with my toes, sending me up like a speeding bullet with one of its remaining wings. As I went up, the lurker went down in a spiral, bouncing off rock cliffs and outcroppings.

  The other lurker had disappeared.

  I tossed aside the wing and jumped down after the wounded lurker.

  32

  It did not occur to me until I was halfway down the cliff, moving to avoid an outcropping, that there was no real need for me to follow the lurker. By the time I had fully processed my action, I had landed right beside it on the ground, crouching to withstand the full force of my landing as I had not made proper use of the anti-gravs to slow down. It roared as it charged.

  Roth had been adamant I could fight these things using just my suit so I decided to give it a shot, particularly since I had already damaged this one. It seemed like an excellent learning opportunity to figure out any other weaknesses and vulnerabilities they might have.

  I stood my ground—rather than doing the smart thing which would’ve been to hop into the air and leave—before I ran forward into the enraged lurker, bashing its head with a fist and using my other hand to grab hold of one of its short appendages in front. It twisted its head and tried to bite my arm, but by that time, I was already leaping into the air, easily ripping off the arm I had taken hold of. The jaws of the lurker just missed my feet as I spun away.

  I looked down at what I had taken. The appendage had three fingers and held a small weapon that was made so two fingers could hold it while the third fired a trigger that was in the middle.

  At least I finally know what its weapon looks like.

  It was surprising that this part of the body was so vulnerable when every other bit was well protected, perhaps the creatures figured a good offense was the best defense.

  Or maybe they just never had the experience of somebody getting close enough to start ripping things off.

  It would have been interesting to take this back, particularly if I connected up with Roth so I could prove to her that I had indeed taken down a lurker, but I had no pockets or another way to store something in my suit, at least not of which I was aware.

  I flung the hand in one direction and pointed the blaster at the lurker, but my massive gloved hands were unable to pull the trigger. I crushed it and sent it in the opposite direction of the hand.

  While I had hung fifty feet in the air examining the appendage, the lurker had scrambled up a large rock. It was too late by the time I saw what it was doing.

  It jumped, crashing into me and pushing me up against the cliff. Cursing, I pushed it away with one hand and shot up into the air. Somehow, it managed to take hold of the rock cliff. It didn’t even hesitate before it made another jump at me, but this time I backed out of its way and watched as it landed with a thud on the ground. It was immediately on its feet, roaring and lashing out with its claws. It seemed to be challenging me to a duel, seeming to dare me to meet it on the ground.

  When I made no move, it reared back on its hind legs, its remaining hands firing its blasters. The shots were all erratic at first, but they honed in on my position as if the creature was taking control of its fury. Even though I knew the suit’s shield could withstand a blast, I did my best to avoid the enemy fire because I didn’t want to learn the hard way how resistant the suit was to their weapons. I zipped around, forcing it off its hind legs so that it could follow me before it bounced back up on them and started firing again. Strangely, the first several shots were once again erratic before it could aim at me. I removed its remaining wing while we continued the dance. If it was furious before, it was worse now.

  I repeated the maneuver several more times, slowly lowering until I was close enough that it could jump up and get me. Each time it bounced back up on its legs, it was difficult for it to reacquire me as a target. I counted the last time, it took three seconds to hone in on me.

  I might have said something taunting to the creature, but Roth had not taught me how to speak other than on the radio.

  “Roth, Roth, are you there?”

  There was no answer.

  I studied the creature, skating out of the way whenever it tried to fir
e at me, hoping to think of a way to dispatch it. I looked around for a boulder or something that I might push on top of it, but there was nothing nearby. Whenever I got close enough to punch its head, the move had bothered the creature, but it only seemed to infuriate it and had not done any harm.

  It lunged for me, and I casually pushed down my toes, launching fifty feet up into the air, spinning as I did. As the suit gave me additional strength, I wondered just how big of a rock I could pick up. I saw a likely candidate in the next canyon over and went down. When I tried to pick it up, I discovered it was heavier than I had judged. I could barely get my arms around it. Regardless, I tried one side and found that I could tip it over without much effort.

  I couldn’t find a way to lift it.

  Unfortunately, it was the only nearby rock that had a chance of damaging the lurker. All the rest were too large or just small enough to irritate it.

  How fast can I throw them?

  I picked up several of the smaller rocks and flew back over to the other side, where I found that the lurker had been climbing again. I skated backward while I wound up my arm and flung a rock. It would’ve killed a person, but I might as well have just thrown a pebble because it bounced harmlessly off.

  The creature kept climbing, stopping only to roar at me.

  I hesitated but only for a moment and spread my feet and heels at the same time, dropping while flying forward. I grabbed one of its hindlegs, thinking that maybe I could rip it off like I had the wing, and shot up into the air. When the lurker realized what I had done, it turned and snatched at me, trying to bite my arms and losing its hold on the rock at the same time.

  I came to a halt, holding the creature by one leg. I then pushed my toes down, and surprisingly, the whole creature came with me. I did not move as fast, but it was quick enough that we were soon several hundred feet in the air.

  I kept going up while the creature tried to get me.

  Higher and higher we went. The lurker became increasingly agitated the further we got from the ground.

  There had to be a point where the lurker would die when I dropped it.

  We were soon at a thousand feet, and then we passed two thousand, but I still did not stop. I lost track of time as I slowly spun in the air, looking for signs of the other lurker, wondering if it would come to the aid of its companion, but other then some clouds, the sky was clear. The transport was also long gone.

  The lurker stopped squirming. I glanced down. Had it lost consciousness?

  It had curled into a ball so that its jaws were now mere feet from my legs. It was trying to stretch further but appeared to be at the limit of what it could do.

  How high am I? Fifteen thousand feet? Twenty?

  I was tempted to let go but still continued to rise. I doubted it had the leverage necessary to come around and clamp onto me. I wanted to make sure that when I let go, it had no chance of surviving.

  Just when I was thinking of releasing it, I heard a noise behind me and turned to see that the other lurker had been hiding in a cloud.

  Without realizing what I was doing, I let go of the lurker’s leg and did not even watch as it plummeted toward the ground.

  33

  The falling lurker screamed, but the sound disappeared from my consciousness as I focused on the oncoming monster that roared, approaching like a speeding train.

  Blasts of light from its weapons went by on either side while I thought about my next best course of action.

  Now is the real test. I’ve shown that I can kill a lurker that’s been wounded, assuming it dies when it hits the ground. How do I take one on in full health?

  It occurred to me that the lurker’s aim was not very good. While I had considered my options, none of the blasts had come anywhere close to me, probably because I was still moving upward after letting go of the lurker. I was going fast, but the lurker was still a good distance out, so my movement should not have made a big difference in its aim.

  I am a sitting duck.

  The lurkers had been deadly with their blasters back at camp. Why couldn’t this lurker hit me?

  Had it been wounded by Roth?

  It should have hit me at least a couple times, but none of the blasts had even come close, it was as if the purpose of its blasts were just to distract me. I had not felt any danger and had taken no evasive maneuvers to get out of its line of fire.

  Is it just hoping to keep me pinned down?

  Just as the lurker was about to reach me, it suddenly wrapped its wings behind its back and dove. On instinct, I spread my toes, sliding back before I realized that the lurker was not coming for me.

  It was going after the lurker I had just dropped.

  I was surprised at the lurker’s desire to save his comrade, particularly since it had fired at me while I’d been riding the other like a space cowboy. I spread my feet apart, plummeting after it. I was curious about what it was doing.

  A lurker focused on rescuing another is just as distracted as one without wings. It was another opportunity to use the suit in direct combat that I could not pass up.

  It was strange to fall like that without any type of parachute. The suit’s amazing technology that made me feel like I was in my body while wearing a suit gave me the strangest sensation of falling. I experienced a brief wave of fear as I started to wonder if maybe I had imagined it all and would also hit the ground with the lurkers.

  Regardless, I continued to fall, not moving my feet a millimeter.

  I wanted to see what the lurker would do. I wanted to learn how it would save its companion. As it looked like I was about to be alone amongst all these lurkers, it seemed prudent to learn anything about their psychology that I could.

  The lurker’s wings moved in full force, forcing it towards its falling comrade. The wounded lurker had its legs spread wide to increase its drag.

  Was I witnessing something they practiced in training?

  I shook my head as I got closer. I had not expected these creatures to have a sense of loyalty towards each other.

  It almost made them seem human.

  Another thought occurred to me and I was surprised that it was only now that I made this observation.

  I was falling faster than I should have.

  I spread my legs even farther, increasing my speed.

  I had disrupted the lurker while riding it and doing the same thing.

  How had I missed that?

  It was not exactly the propulsion system I had seen Roth use, but it was something more than just mere gravity that propelled me downward because I soon caught up to the lurker that was trying to rescue its comrade.

  It did not see me coming.

  As much as I wanted to see how this played out, I could not pass up an opportunity to attack while it was focused elsewhere.

  I maneuvered until I was right beside it. I glanced down, it was still not aware of my presence. I grabbed a wing that moved so fast it looked like it was barely there, clasping it between two hands with a snapping motion and then bracing myself against its body, trying to rip it off.

  I would use the antigravity feature as a last resort to shoot up in the air, but I wanted to stay close to the lurker to maximize my ability to damage it before it turned on me.

  The lurker went into a spin. I tried to maintain a hold but was sent flying off with its wing. As soon as I was off the spinning creature, I righted myself, thanks to the aid of the suit’s anti-gravs, leaving me holding the wing that I had torn off.

  The creature screamed but made no move toward me, it had still not caught up to the falling lurker and was slower now that it had one less wing.

  It’s anybody’s guess if it will catch the other before it hits the ground.

  The margin of error was not significant, if he was to save his companion, he could not even spend one moment dealing with me. I repositioned, grabbed another wing, and waited until the lurker started twisting again before I flew off with the wing in hand.

  By the time I was back at t
he lurker, it had spun around so that its feet faced towards me. As I maneuvered to try to go around, it followed, keeping me from getting to its wings.

  Now would be a really good time to know how to use the weapons.

  “Activate weapons.”

  Nothing.

  “Roth, are you there?”

  Nothing.

  With every passing attempt to reach out to her, I knew the chances of us reconnecting were slim. I had a hard time believing these creatures had managed to kill her, particularly when the suit was so adept at fighting them, but I was starting to think that I needed to accept she might be gone.

  When I thought of the tough woman who I could only describe as half crazy, I felt remorse at the thought she might be dead.

  While I didn’t trust her and probably never would, I did like her.

  I pretended to go left, but then went right, and soon found myself taking hold of another of the lurker’s wings while stabilizing my feet on its back. Instead of spinning around like it had before, it remained still, clearly having figured out that its actions had done more damage to it than I had.

  When I tried to rip it off, two other wings were suddenly in front of me, buzzing right in my face. This did not have any effect on me, other than to disorient me just a little, but I grabbed hold of another wing and pulled on two at once. Unfortunately, this made me lose my stance on the back of the creature, and I was soon dangling off, holding only the wings.

  It seemed like I was holding on to save my life, but after a moment of reflection I realized I could just let go. It was difficult to do but was not really any different than getting tossed by the creature. As soon as I did I immediately righted myself.

  Whoever designed this suit had aerial maneuvers in mind.

  I spread my feet and caught up to the lurker.

  It rotated so its feet faced towards me once again. A hand with a blaster pointed at me and I moved to the left. It did not follow me.